Happy New Year?

It's hard to believe that another year has come and gone! We had another busy, ever-changing, year. I spent the first 9 months of 2009 pregnant, and the last 3 months with a new baby! ♥ I really couldn't have asked for a better way to spend the year!

Last year, for the first time, I made some New Years Resolutions. You can read about them here, and here. I didn't exactly achieve all of them, but some I did okay on.

Weight loss - this one I TOTALLY failed on. In fact I am starting out this year heavier than last. But in my defense, I DID get pregnant on New Year's Eve, so I was doomed from the start! HA! But I am REALLY hoping to lose weight this year. I KNOW I have said this MANY times before, but I really do want to!! If you have been watching my pre-pregnancy weight ticker at all, you may have noticed that I have been GAINING weight lately instead of losing it. Starting on Monday (Jan 4th) I am cutting out junk food and getting serious about weight loss.

Keeping a cleaner/more organized house - This one was so-so. I have REALLY slacked with the cleaning lately, but I have been pretty good all year with clearing out and getting rid of stuff. Unfortunately, living in a small house, this seems to be a CONSTANT battle. I am always trying to re-arrange stuff and get rid of stuff to make room for new stuff! I am hoping to continue de-cluttering, and get back on track with my cleaning this year!

Being a better wife - This one I think I did pretty good on, but of course there is always room for improvement. I have tried to not be so bitchy and demanding. I have tried to see things from Gairod's point of view, and I have tried to be more intimate and show affection. Like I said, I really feel that I have improved on all of these things, but I DO have to constantly step back and remind myself :)

Get Pregnant - This is one resolution that I should get an A+ on! LOL! I managed to get pregnant on New Year's Eve, after trying for 8 months! I would really like to get pregnant again in 2010, but first I need to convince Gairod. I am really hoping that if I can lose some weight, get better control of the house and the kids, that maybe he will change his mind. I just really don't feel like we are done yet. 6 would DEFINITELY be my limit. I mean absolutely NO offence to anyone with more than 6 kids, but I PERSONALLY, would not want more than 6. If we have one more baby, I will have no problem letting Gairod get snipped after, and I would feel like I could close that part of my life. I just need to work on convincing Gairod of this. I totally understand his skepticism, since I said if we had 5 we could be done, and now I am asking for another. But really, the difference between 5 and 6, is even smaller than the difference between 4 and 5. With 4, we were still "normal". With 5, were are not. lol! With 6 we would be just a bit more abnormal :) With 4, we fit nicely in our minivan. With 5, we needed to move up to a Suburban. 6 would still fit in our Suburban. With 4, we had enough bedrooms in our house. With 5, we needed to develop another bedroom in the basement. With 6 we would still have enough bedrooms, with 2 kids per bedroom. So really, we wouldn't need to make any major changes to have one more baby. Have I convinced YOU yet?!?! I am hoping to talk to Gairod about all this and convince him. If you are wondering WHY I am in such a hurry to start trying, it's because with the exception of Jade, I don't get pregnant very easily. The triplets took 13 months and fertility drugs, and Sage took 8 months, with several anovulatory cycles. Yes I have gotten my period back already, but I have also already had abnormal bleeding, and my temp has not risen, so I have not ovulated. Sorry, I kind of got off topic here, back to resolutions.......

So this year, I am going to continue on with my resolutions from last year, and I am going to add one more. I would like to try to be a better mother. I feel like I spend too much time yelling at my kids, and I don't always enjoy them as much as I should. I want to discipline them better, so that I don't have to yell at them so much, and I want to spend more time playing with them. They are only little once, and before I know it they will all be grown, and these days will only be a memory.

We don't really have any plans for tonight, we'll just watch some movies, and probably go to bed before midnight! Last year we had the best New Year's Eve ever, and we were in bed by 10:30pm! lol! Last New Years we conceived Sage ;) I keep telling Gairod I want to do the same thing this year - make another baby. But he still isn't agreeing with me! lol! So it will probably be a very uneventful New Year's Eve, but hopefully and very eventful and productive New Year! Here's to 2010!! :)

The end of an Era.

For the last 2 years and 10 months, I have ALWAYS had a triple stroller in the back of my vehicle. I couldn't go anywhere without one. For the last 3 months, I have had a triplet stroller AND a single stroller in the back of my vehicle! FINALLY, we are DONE with strollers for the triplets! YAY! My goal was to have the triplets completely out of a stroller by this coming Spring. I am thrilled to have met my goal earlier than I had hoped! :)

Since Sage was born, I have been practicing taking the kids on little outing to places like Walmart, without their stroller. They have done amazingly well with listening and holding on to the cart or Sage's stroller.

The only thing I was still hanging onto the stroller for, was trips to the mall. But the last two times I have gone to the mall, I haven't used their stroller, and they have done fine.

So, on Christmas day, Gairod took both the strollers out of the Suburban, so we would be able to fit all of our gifts in to take home from my parents house. We have decided we are only going to put the single stroller back in, and retire our triple!

So now it is time to sell our Peg Perego Triple stroller, and our triple jogging stroller. We will still keep the Choo-Choo wagon, for things like going to the zoo.

I can honestly say I am very happy to be DONE with pushing that insanely heavy triple stroller!! :)

Here are a few pictures of all the triple strollers we have had or still have:

Triple Decker - LOVED this stroller! Very light and easy to push. Didn't take up much space, since it is just a frame that the carseats clip into.

Jogging stroller - Again, light and easy to push, but too wide to fit through doorways (so you can really only use it outside), and very bulky when folded up.
Peg Perego - This is the one we have used the most/longest. It is a very heavy stroller, and the small wheels make it hard to push/turn. This stroller also takes up A LOT of space in the back of a vehicle. But honestly, when you have triplets, you really don't have many options when it comes to strollers!
Choo Choo Wagon - LOVE this wagon!! It is great! We got this shortly after we got the jogging stroller, which is why we really never used the jogging stroller!

Christmas Day!

Our Christmas Day was very busy, as usual! lol! Sage woke up to eat at around 6:30am, so I got up, fed her, and then I just brought her back into bed with me, since we had told Jade she could get up at 7am, so I knew she would be up shortly! Sure enough, just after 7am, Jade came up stairs. We went in and woke up the triplets.

We opened our stockings, then Sage was getting fussy, so we put her in her swing and she went right to sleep :) We made our traditional bacon, eggs, and toast for breakfast, then we opened our presents. Sage slept through all of it, and woke up just in time to open her presents at the very end. (Okay, well really SHE didn't open her presents, the rest of the kids "helped" her open them! lol!)

Gairod's parents and his brother Chad came over just after we were done opening presents. They brought more presents for the kids to open! We visited with them for a while, and then we needed to get showered, dressed, and ready to go to my parents house.

By the time we finally got to my parents house, it was already 3pm! The kids opened MORE presents (from my parents, my brother, and my sister), we had a piece of cake for my sister's birthday (she was born Christmas day), and then it was time to head over to my Aunt and Uncle's house for dinner.

At my Aunt's house, Santa came and gave each of the kids ANOTHER present! I was VERY impressed with Kadance. When Santa first came in, she started backing into a corner to get away from him! lol! I quickly went over to her, told her it was okay, Santa is nice, etc. Within a couple minutes, she went right over to him and waited with all the other kids for her present!!

By the time we were done dinner, visiting, and our annual "Chinese gift exchange", the kids (and us!) were exhausted, so we packed up and headed home.

Today, my house is an absolute disaster, and I haven't even gotten out of my pj's! Our living room is literally piled full of presents! I don't even know where to put anything, so for today I am just leaving it, and opening things as the kids ask for them. Tomorrow, I will try to get things back in order around here! lol!

Christmas Eve, after Santa came!

All the filled stockings!
Daddy and Sage on her first Christmas morning!

Jade digging into her stocking!

Daddy helping Sage with her stocking.

The Triplets with their stockings.

Sage napping after her stocking!

Christmas morning breakfast!

Time for presents!!

Finally Sage woke up and everyone helped open her gifts!

Flames jerseys from Uncle Chad!

Opening presents at Grandma and Grandpa Cottrell's house.

Kadance getting her gift from Santa!

Eating dinner at the "kids table"!

Update on Cole's speech

So I think that the last time I wrote about Cole's speech, was right after we had his assessment, back at the beginning of November. To read that post, click here. The speech therapist had said he was moderately delayed in both speech and language, but that she would mail the official report after she finished marking all his tests.

When we got the official results in the mail, they said that he is moderately delayed in language, but SEVERELY delayed in speech!

We still had to go to the parent sessions, then 5 weeks after that we were supposed to call back the speech pathologist and get him on ANOTHER waiting list for individual therapy!

We just finished the parent sessions a week ago, and the speech pathologist called today to set up a 5 week block of individual therapy for him starting at the beginning of January!

I am SO happy that they are getting him in right away, and we DO NOT have to wait forever to get him started!!

Seriously.

I seriously think I have a problem. I can NOT stop thinking about having another baby!! Especially since I have gotten my period back, and theoretically we could start trying NOW! LOL!

I hate that I am obsessing about this, and I have NO ONE to talk to about it. Everyone I know in real life already thinks I am crazy for having 5! lol! Most of you reading this probably think I am crazy too, but I HAVE to get my feelings out or I am going to explode!

I have worked out all the details in my head already. We have enough seats in our Suburban, so that wouldn't be a problem. We could put the new baby in Sage's room with her, so that wouldn't be a problem. We have baby stuff again for/from Sage, so all we would need to get would be boy clothes if it was a boy, and a crib if they were close together. We already have 5 kids, so really, what is one more??!!

Unfortunately, Gairod does NOT feel the same way as me. I feel like I really pushed him for number 5, promising that it would be our last one, so I really can't push him for a number 6. But I am hoping and praying for an "oops". Is that horrible?! I think it is, but I can't help myself.

What is wrong with me?? Why can't I just accept that we are done having babies, and move on?!

Pierced Ears!! :)

My beautiful baby girl with her pretty little ears pierced!! ♥

Visit with Santa!!

Today Gairod and I took the 4 little kids to the mall to see Santa! Jade didn't want to go see a mall Santa, since they aren't the "real" Santa, just his helpers! So since Gairod was off work, I made him come with me :) The kids all did really well, even Kadance, who is afraid of Santa. She didn't want to sit on his lap or beside him, but we convinced her to sit on the floor in front of him! lol!

While we were at the mall, we got Sage's ears pierced!!! She looks SO cute, I love them!! I had to lie about her age a little bit, since they won't do them until 3 months, and she is only 2 1/2 months. So I just said she was 3 months! lol! She did awesome and only let out one little cry, and they even did them both separately! She cried less getting her ears pierced than she did getting her shots!! :)

Counting my Blessings :)

Sometimes I get so caught up in the day-to-day chaos, that I forget to take a step back and take stock of what I have.

I have a house to keep me warm in this cold weather, I have food to fill my belly, I have a loving husband, and I have 5 beautiful children ♥

Playing in the Snow! :)

We have had SO much snow over the last week, it has been crazy!! Gairod wasn't working on Thursday, so he took the triplets outside to play in the snow! As sad as this is, this was the FIRST time they have ever played in the snow! They loved it! :)

Hayden at the top of the slide

Getting ready to go down the slide!
Kadance getting ready to go down the slide!

Weeeeee!

Cole getting ready to go down the slide!

Weeeee!

Snow Angels!

Kadance

9 Years

9 years ago today, my brother killed himself. If you don't know the story, you can read my post from last year, here.

I still find the Christmas season is a very hard time of year for me. I love Christmas, but it is always bittersweet now. I find myself always trying to make Christmas "perfect". I think subconsciously, I am trying to erase the memory of what happened 9 years ago.

It has been 9 years, but it still affects me EVERY day. I have never admitted this to anyone, not even Gairod. Jade goes to sleep with her bedside light on, and then after she is asleep, I go down and turn it off. Every single night when I go down to turn off her light, I feel a little bit of panic as I open her door, fearing that she might be dead. I know that it is a totally irrational fear, but it is still there.

After my brother died, I went through all the stages of grief. I remember when I got to the anger stage, I was mad that he had ruined Christmas. I was afraid that Christmas would suck for the rest of my life, and Christmas had always been my favorite holiday. In a sense, Christmas HAS sucked every year since then. No matter how much I try to avoid it, the memory of his death is always there.